The Inbreds

Renowned for their stripped-down lineup of bass guitar and drums, the Inbreds were one of the foremost bands emerging from the Canadian indie scene of the '90s, deftly combining upbeat, catchy Beatlesesque pop with emotionally intense melodies and harmonies. While often associated with the Halifax Pop Explosion and bands like Sloan and Thrush Hermit, the Inbreds got their start in the college town of Kingston, Ontario, in 1992, where they released cassettes of their own music and of other Kingston lo-fi bands on drummer Dave Ullrich's Proboscis Funkstone or PF Records. Of PF's sizable roster, it was the Inbreds, Ullrich's own partnership with bassist/songwriter and longtime friend Mike O'Neill, that caught the attention of listeners outside Kingston. Their debut LP, Hilario (1993), was a gorgeous and sensitive collection of raw material from early cassette releases Darn Foul Dog, Let's Get Together, and Egrog. The release of Hilario took the Inbreds on the road with Canadian alt-pop darlings the Rheostatics, the first of many tours on which the band would find unlikely new fans by opening for well-known rock outfits like the Tragically Hip and Buffalo Tom. In 1994 came the more polished follow-up effort Kombinator, produced by Dave Clark (ex-Rheostatics, now in the Dinner Is Ruined). Kombinator's mix of energetic hooks and melancholy falsetto pushed the Inbreds to the fore of Canada's indie scene, earning them heavy college radio airplay and a MuchMusic Best Alternative Video nomination for the single "Any Sense of Time." The band signed to TAG Records (Atlantic) and took advantage of the major-label budget to experiment with a fuller sound, enlisting the help of 4AD producer Lincoln Fong for their next studio effort. The resulting album, 1996's It's Sydney or the Bush,...